


any place is better than here

by summerhurleys



Category: One Direction
Genre: Fluff, Harry lives in a rainy town, I named the dog after a friend in rl, M/M, Zayn's an art student who draws dogs?, animal adoption, this is part of an AU of mine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-26
Updated: 2013-04-26
Packaged: 2017-12-09 12:56:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/774438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/summerhurleys/pseuds/summerhurleys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the beginning, Harry Styles was a bachelor living in a dreary one-floor house on the English countryside, teaching art to kindergarteners in the only primary school the town had. He was a bright light that shined to the people in the constantly grey and wet place, the boy who brought the light from Holmes Chapel and took it to their town, bringing temporary happiness to the citizens. Eventually though, the downcast weather began to wear on him, to a point where he enjoyed his work far more then he enjoyed coming home to his empty house.</p><p>[Day One of The 31 Day Writing Challenge]</p>
            </blockquote>





	any place is better than here

**Author's Note:**

> yes, this is a bunch of poop that's part of a Zarry!AU I made up during science at school, haha. You'll probably see more of this as time goes on. Kudo, comment, and bookmark if you please!

In the beginning, Harry Styles was a bachelor living in a dreary one-floor house on the English countryside, teaching art to kindergarteners in the only primary school the town had. He was a bright light that shined to the people in the constantly grey and wet place, the boy who brought the light from Holmes Chapel and took it to their town, bringing temporary happiness to the citizens. Eventually though, the downcast weather began to wear on him, to a point where he enjoyed his work far more then he enjoyed coming home to his empty house.

He Skype friend from Ireland Niall suggested that he should go and get some sort of companion. At first, he had thought that the man meant that he needed to get laid and panicked, but after he recovered from his shock, Niall told him he meant a dog or cat or whatever kind of animal suited him. Harry took his consideration and took an hour drive to the nearest animal shelter, where he met his future boyfriend.

Harry had been looking for a dog, because he knew that, even though he loved cats, they wouldn’t really give him that kind of friendliness he needed in his life. He went through many aisles of cages, the dogs either yapping or cowering in the corner whimpering. As he was on the other side of the large room and the last row of dogs, he was beginning to think that maybe he should give up on getting a pet altogether. None of the canines he saw appealed to him or his conditions at home, until he caught eyes on the next to last cage.

In that wired cage, there was a man with night-black hair sitting in front of the husky inside, a moleskine in his lap and the floor around him littered in pastels and colored pencils. Harry peered over his shoulder best he could and noticed he was drawing the content dog in the cage with him.

“Wow, you’re really good.” Harry murmured, startling the man enough for him to turn around and practically stun Harry with his looks.

He had piercing dark brown eyes that seemed black in the shadows of the cage, a perfectly sculpted face that even Harry was sure Niall would’ve been jealous of, and the alluring facial hair which caught Harry’s eye most. It just looked so good on him, the way it made him look (excuse my words haha) sort’ve ‘unique’. He was perfect in Harry’s eyes.

“Uh, thanks? I guess you’re here to look at Jessi, aren’t you?” the artist asked, his look softening after a moment of getting used to Harry’s presence.

“Yeah, she looks like the dog I want. Been trying to find a good companion to have with me in my lonely home.” Harry replied, shuffling from foot to foot in nervousness as he noticed the ear piercings and a couple tattoos on his arms.

“Jessi’s a real good girl, just fits in wherever. You seem like a pretty nice guy too, she likes good guys. Oh, the name’s Zayn, Zayn Malik.”

“I am pretty good, I’m still sane in a rained out town!” Harry chuckled, stepping in the cage as Zayn had gone to open it. “My name’s Harry Styles.”

Zayn smiled and nodded, then sitting down on the concrete ground again, picking up his book as Harry got down to his knees beside him.

The two of them sat there for close to an hour, Zayn drawing Jessi, who slept in her makeshift bed. Harry just observed everything around him, in the cage. He would hum occasionally some obscure punk rock song from the 80s or some song by Michael Buble.

“Well, are you gonna take Jessi once I’m done here?” Zayn questioned, taking a moment from his now colorful picture in front of him.

“I suppose. You’re pretty cute yourself.” Harry almost whispered the last part, and then covered his mouth as he realized what he had said.

Zayn stared at Harry for a moment, eyes wide in shock, but then he broke out into a hearty laugh, soon catching Harry within it as well.

“That’s funny, Styles. But I should agree on that. You are pretty cute.” Zayn finally breathed out as he recovered himself from his fit.

It was Harry’s turn to go all ‘deer-in-the-headlights’ on Zayn. Then he just sighed and leaned against the cage’s side.

“How about we exchange numbers? Or are you not into guys?” Zayn asked, now looking serious.

“Yeah, I’m pretty gay as far as Niall keeps telling me, and I really haven’t been into the opposite sex or anything…”

“Numbers it is then.”

Zayn pulled out a small note-keeping notepad from his pocket and tore out a piece of paper, quickly writing down his cell phone number on it and handing it to a dazed Harry, who pocketed it in his wallet. Harry wrote down his number onto the corner of Zayn’s drawing of Jessi and put badly drawn hearts around it like some seven year old girl writing on a celeb poster.

So after all that phone number exchanging and more casual conversation, Zayn helped Harry get through the adoption of Jessi more smoothly then if he had done it by himself. Harry would still be grateful for him for that deed. Zayn even went home with Harry and stayed for the weekend, even though he ended up wearing the younger’s clothes after the first night (let’s say there was syrup involved.). As he had predicted, Jessi took to a great liking to Harry, and would whine when he wasn’t in the same room, which made him dread the upcoming Monday, when he would have to go back to his job at the school.

As time went on, Harry and Zayn’s relationship blossomed as Zayn would drive his way over every Friday over to the little grey and rain-soaked town and spend weekends with Harry and Jessi. Harry’s single-floored house had turned from a depressing prison to a bright and cheerful castle where he was king and Zayn was queen (or the other way if Zayn had his say.).

Around a year after they met, Zayn managed to get through his university and moved to Harry’s home, occupying the guest room for weeks before Jessi would really allow him to sleep in the same bed with her and Harry. When Harry was at the school teaching kids how to create works of art, Zayn would sometimes drop in at random, and the students loved him, he’d sometimes sketch out little cartoons for them to keep.

All was well, Harry and Zayn and Jessi all lived together in the town with no light, but they were the combined source of light and happiness for eachother.

**Author's Note:**

> (also I'm available for one-shot requests if that's your jam-bam-thank-you-m'am ;))


End file.
